Edward Davey: Greece well-placed to be energy hub in the region

The very active Ed Davey (centre right) seen here during his tour at All-Energy 2013

The United Kingdom’s Secretary of State for Energy & Climate Change Ed Davey stresses the need for enhancing energy security during the signing of three new agreements for hydrocarbon exploration, surveying and production in Greece.

Ed Davey attended the signing of agreements for hydrocarbon exploration, surveying and production in two offshore areas (Katakolo and Patras Bay) and one onshore area (Ioannina). The British Cabinet Minister Ed Davey is in Athens to attend the Informal Energy and Environment Councils of the Greek Presidency of the EU.

The signing took place at the Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change, in the presence of Deputy Prime Minister & Foreign Minister, Evangelos Venizelos, Minister for Environment, Energy & Climate Change, Ioannis Maniatis, as well as the partnering companies. The selected companies include a consortium between the UK’s Trajan Oil & Gas and Greece’s Energean Oil. In his short address the Secretary of State stressed:

It is great to be able to come here and also celebrate another partnership between Greece and the United Kingdom, between Greek companies, British companies and indeed companies from Canada and Italy. And I hope this is the beginning of an ever closer relationship on energy, where Britain and Greece and our companies can work together for our common good. We are at a really important moment in Europe on energy. We have seen recently the importance of energy security and we will be talking about that tomorrow here in Athens, to make sure that we are ensuring that Europe has its energy sources and energy supplies and they cannot be disrupted by countries who wish to use energy as a weapon.

I believe Greece is incredibly well placed to be an energy hub in Southeastern Europe. I think that is a vision and I know it is your vision; I hope that you will be able to deliver on that and I hope that the UK government and our companies can help you deliver on that, both in terms of gas supplies, but also renewable energy.

I believe that the UK’s offshore oil and gas industry is, if not the best in the world, amongst the best in the world. In the North Sea, we pulled out a lot of oil and gas over the last 40 years, over 40 billion barrels of oil and gas. We think we have another 20 billion to draw over the next 20 years or more. We have developed a lot of expertise and a lot of companies with that skill and that knowledge, in quite a hostile environment, and we want to use that and to share that with others who want to exploit their offshore potential.

Notes to Editors
The joint venture Energean Oil and Gas and British Trajan Oil & Gas Ltd. will be the concessionaire for the offshore plot at Katakolo in northwestern Peloponnese, east of Zakynthos island.

The joint venture of Hellenic Petroleum/Edison/Petroceltic, Petroceltic being an Irish company listed on AIM, will be the concessionaire for the offshore reserve in the Gulf of Patras.